Behind Jade and Silver
Chapter 1
A beautiful young woman stood stationery on the horizon. She closed her eyes serenely as memories floated through the inner recesses of her mind. As the images became clearer, a young girl appeared, rubbing her eyes as the tears slowly built up. With one last caress of her hand, she wiped away the last remaining signs of weakness that dawned on her face. The young girl made a silent pact with herself a promise to never again be considered weak, and above all a promise to protect the ones that she loved.
The images slowly faded as she opened her eyes. With a thud on the earth, she was off. Her outline was seen running towards a man of about the same age holding a sharp weapon. Their eyes met as the distance between them lessened. The man couldn't see a single amount of fear in her eyes. All that was there was her burning determination. The man threw a barrage of weapons that accurately impaled her pale skin with cold metal. She fell down hard on the solid ground.
He smirked at the prospect of such an easy win, but to his shock an inanimate log had taken the woman's place. Fear crept through his mind. He had let his guard down and he knew that his fate had been sealed. An intense amount of pain seared through his body, gradually numbing he began losing consciousness. The woman removed her had from his neck. Then it all went black.
As if on cue, cheers and applause echoed throughout the arena. Then everyone went silent as a blonde woman stood up from her seat. She was obviously someone who demanded a great deal of respect, seeing how the crowd had acted as she had gotten on her feet. She said in a dignified and serious tone, "From this day onwards, you are no longer a genin. Stand tall and proud because you have shown not only to me but also to all the people of Konoha what you are capable off. You have proven that you are worthy of the title chuunin, Haruno Sakura."
The cheers and applause resurfaced this time even louder.Sakura's fellow victors marched onto the field.
Before she began addressing the others, however, the woman smiled at Sakura showing how proud she was of what her pupil had accomplished. She got a warm smile from the pink haired kunoichi in return.
"Hey Sakura," called out a blonde girl draped in the color purple. She quickly recognized that it was her best friend, Yamanaka Ino or "Ino pig" as she would playfully refer to her. The two of them made an agreement that they would forget their rivalry over Uchiha Sasuke. They figured that he just wasn't worth it.
"Why go on and love someone who only thought of you as an annoyance?" they said to themselves. After their promise to one another they quickly rebuilt the friendship-which in truth never really broken.
But somewhere inside Sakura's heart, a part of her still longed for the Uchiha prodigy..
"Yes, Ino?" Sakura asked inquisitively.
"Well.. I just wanted to congratulate you on your win. Oh, and I wanted to hit you in the face! You had me fooled with that kawarmi no jutsu you used for a second there. I thought that he got you. I was almost about to go to where you were and salvage what I could."
The two of them looked seriously at each other, but suddenly both blurted out laughing. After awhile the two of them said their pleasant goodbyes. Both girls were still giggling as they parted ways.
A lone figure was walking aimlessly along the outskirt forests of Konoha. A light breeze blew and untangled strands of silky chestnut colored hair and gave it movement, later dying down making the long strands slightly caress his face. He had been gone for quite a while. Being appointed jounin, he took many higher ranked missions than the regular shinobi, which at times required him to go to distant villages and countries.After half an hour of walking he reached main entrance to the Konoha Village. Yes,Hyuuga Neji was home.